The American journal of hospice & palliative care
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Am J Hosp Palliat Care · Feb 2019
Quality Improvement Initiatives to Reduce Mortality: An Opportunity to Engage Palliative Care and Improve Advance Care Planning.
Despite substantial efforts to integrate palliative care and improve advance care planning, both are underutilized. Quality improvement initiatives focused on reducing mortality may offer an opportunity for facilitating engagement with palliative care and advance care planning. ⋯ Clinicians who participated in an initiative to reduce AMI mortality highlighted the challenges associated with decision-making regarding interventions, systems for documenting patient goals of care, and broader engagement with palliative care. Quality improvement initiatives focused on mortality may offer a meaningful and feasible opportunity for engaging palliative care. Primary palliative care training is needed to improve discussions about patient and family goals of care near the end of life.
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Am J Hosp Palliat Care · Feb 2019
Advance Care Planning in Community: An Evaluation of a Pilot 2-Session, Nurse-Led Workshop.
Engaging patients in advance care planning (ACP) is challenging but crucial to improving the quality of end-of-life care. Group visits and multiple patient-clinician interactions may promote advance directive (AD) completion. ⋯ The ACP workshop was well received by participants and increased ACP readiness, discussion, and completion. Attendance at the workshop was low and barriers to attending workshops must be explored.